Brookfield Asset Management and Reliance Industries, a private sector enterprise in India, have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore potential opportunities for manufacturing renewable energy and decarbonisation equipment in Australia.
The goal of the MoU is to expedite and mitigate the risks associated with Australia’s energy transition by establishing local production capabilities of photovoltaic (PV) modules, long duration battery storage systems, and various components necessary for wind energy generation.
As per the terms of the MoU, the two companies will collaborate closely to explore ways of direct capital investment and the development of skills, knowledge, and expertise within the renewable energy domain.
The companies will also assess the feasibility of establishing advanced operations within Australia. These operations will be focused on the production or assembly of equipment essential for the construction of renewable energy projects. The equipment manufactured or assembled through these operations will be supplied to all players in the market, including Origin Energy Markets.
This comes after Brookfield signed a binding agreement to acquire Origin Energy. This proposed acquisition is currently undergoing relevant approvals processes.
As part of this acquisition, Brookfield, together with its institutional partners and global investors GIC and Temasek, has formulated a plan to invest between A$20bn and A$30bn over the next ten years to expedite and bolster Australia’s energy transition.
Brookfield Renewable Australia Head Luke Edwards said: “Australia has a proud history of manufacturing and an abundance of raw materials, but the industry is not currently cost competitive. The energy transition creates an opportunity to bring advanced manufacturing processes created offshore to Australia, which would secure the supply of critical equipment for the transition to help drive down Australia’s emissions faster and contribute significantly to job creation.
“We want to help kickstart a new era in local manufacturing that will benefit domestic renewables developers, including Origin Energy Markets, and many communities around Australia. We are establishing these types of global partnerships in manufacturing now to allow us to get started as quickly as possible given the ever-reducing timeline for Australia to reach its first emissions-reductions targets in 2030.”
